Kudos to the Central Park Conservancy for throwing its weight behind banning carriage horses in NYC, which Friends of Animals has supported for decades.

The Conservancy has maintained a neutral stance for many years, but in a letter addressed to Mayor Eric Adams and Common Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, the Conservancy said it supports passage of Ryder’s law, which was introduced by Council Member Bob Holden in 2022 and 2024, and would replace the industry with horseless electric carriages, like in Guadalajara, Mexico. It currently has 19 sponsors.

The Conservancy cited public safety, public health and park infrastructure damage as their main supporting points and was quick to highlight the fact that “68 carriages licensed to operate in the park inflict enormous damage to its Drives, to the detriment of the Park’s other, 42 million users.”

Notably, the Conservancy doesn’t cite animal welfare concerns in the letter. But it was written just a week after a 15-year-old Standardbred Cross mare named Lady died after collapsing in the street as she headed back to her stable after being exploited for rides that day. A necropsy found that she had a small tumor in her adrenal gland that likely caused an aortic rupture.

As stewards of the park, the Conservancy’s newfound stance represents a significant milestone in the efforts to pass Ryder’s Law. The outrage directed at the carriage horse industry has officially permeated the very institutions once hesitant to take a position, signaling a turning point in public momentum for the ban.

If the Conservancy agrees that something is bad for Central Park, it’s worth listening to. Central Park is a living breathing ecosystem and home to a lot of wildlife, which we documented in our most recent issue of Action Line.

We hope Mayor Adams and Speaker Adams are listening to all the reasons to finally pull the plug on the carriage horse industry!